>newground
Professor Paul Kriese keeps a picture on his desk of the parents who inspired his career and scholarship gift.
“I believe in democracy, equality, and justice.” These words summarize the life of Paul Kriese, associate professor of political science at Indiana University East.
Professor Kriese’s parents never told him he was poor. They never told him they couldn’t afford to pay for college. As laborers without high school diplomas, they taught by example. Richard and Florence Kriese instilled in their son a belief that achievement is gained through hard work.
So Paul Kriese worked. He studied. He obtained bachelor’s degrees in political science, history, and secondary education at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa while working two jobs, seven days a week. He earned his first master’s degree from State University of New York at Buffalo, and two more from Kent State and Earlham College. He received his doctorate from Purdue University. “My parents were always very supportive of my education,” Kriese said. “They knew it was my way to make a statement.”
Now at IU East, Professor Kriese specializes in the politics of hate, African studies, and multicultural politics. He has traveled worldwide on funded research projects and lived in an Eastern European community in New York. He has developed a multicultural politics course at IU East and created several multicultural programs for middle and high schools.
Professor Kriese practices what he preaches: equality, justice, achievement. Through IU East’s Campaign for Community and a desire to honor his parents, Kriese established the Florence T. and Richard P. Kriese Memorial Student Scholarship to help students who, like his parents, are believers in community and working for their achievements. “I think my parents would be happy to be associated with working people and with older people wanting a second chance,” Kriese said. “This scholarship honors the working class, people with children and jobs who still thirst for knowledge and strive to move ahead. My parents once said, ‘The only thing keeping you back is you.’
“Hard work does not always provide you what you want or need, but my parents taught me that without hard work and a belief in yourself, you will never attain anything that you want to achieve.”
—Cary Boyce
Learn more about Professor Paul Kriese.
Read more about the IU East Campus.